ORDER BY DESC in SQL

The ORDER BY DESC clause sorts the result set of a query in descending order — from the largest to smallest values.

? Syntax:

SELECT column1, column2, ...FROM table_nameORDER BY column_name DESC;

• DESC means descending order.

• For numbers, it sorts from highest to lowest.

• For text, it sorts from Z to A.

• For dates, it sorts from newest to oldest.

? Example:

Get all employees ordered by salary from highest to lowest:

SELECT employee_name, salaryFROM employeesORDER BY salary DESC;

Multiple columns example:

Order by department ascending and within department, order employees by salary descending:

SELECT employee_name, department_id, salaryFROM employeesORDER BY department_id ASC, salary DESC;

Notes:

• If DESC is omitted, the default order is ASC (ascending).

• Can be combined with other clauses like WHERE, GROUP BY, etc.

• Useful for getting top values, e.g., highest salaries, latest dates.

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